


always taste like you

by zeitgeistofnow



Category: Spring Awakening - Sheik/Sater
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Cigarettes, Deaf Character, Fluff, M/M, Songfic, are a theme bc of the song so if you're not cool with that that's cool, ernst is latino, georg (who isn't actually in this but he's mentioned) is black, hanschen is gnc, probably don't read this then, so his hanschen, strawberries and cigarettes by troye sivan, the boys are doing their best, they're all poc bc I SAID SO, this is true in all my works but! just letting you know
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-13
Updated: 2019-05-13
Packaged: 2020-03-02 09:32:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 1,382
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18808468
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/zeitgeistofnow/pseuds/zeitgeistofnow
Summary: ernst and hanschen meet at a street sign, hold hands in a taxi, and kiss under the stars





	1. remember when we first met? (you said light my cigarette)

the kid’s leaning against the street sign- ernst’s street’s street sign- holding an unlit cigarette in one hand and scrolling through his phone with the other. ernst is on his way to the gas station to buy his mother some coffee creamer, but suddenly that doesn’t seem as important. he tucks his mom’s money in his pocket and walks up to the boy.

 _“hello,”_ he signs, feeling dull in his boots and his dad’s flannel. he knows it's an off-chance that the boy knows sign language, but he hopes-

 _“hello,”_ the boy responds. he’s wearing sparkling lip gloss and short-shorts and he’s probably the most interesting thing to grace this street in years. _“do you have a lighter?”_ he holds up the cigarette and ernst flushes.

_“i- i don’t smoke.”_

_“just as well, you wouldn’t want to ruin your voice.”_ the boy starts off, in the direction of the gas station. ernst insists to himself that that’s the only reason he’s following him. _“where are you going?”_

 _following you,_ ernst thinks. _“i’m ernst,”_ he signs, finger-spelling the name.

_“hanschen.”_

 

they’re both going to the kwik trip, hanschen to buy a bic lighter and ernst to get the coffee mate for his mom. she likes the hazelnut flavor, he tells hanschen.

 _“i’m not sure what to do with that information,”_ hanschen responds.

ernst hands trip over themselves. _“i just… just what was on my mind.”_

 _“oh,”_ hanschen signs, and buys him a strawberry candy. _“i like that you’d tell me, then.”_

ernst likes that hanschen signs things like that, and he tells him so, unwrapping the chocolate and popping it into his mouth.

 _“i think i like you,”_ hanschen responds. _“you’re a very nice person, ernst.”_

 _“you’re a very nice person too, hanschen,”_ ernst signs. he throws the red-and-yellow wrapper in the trash.

hanschen just laughs. ernst admires the way his neck arcs, the way his smile widens. _“are you doing anything today?”_

ernst smiles at him, just a little bit. _“i don’t think so._ ” (he is, but he texts his mom that he can’t make it to family dinner because he has a study date with a friend. he hopes at least one word from that is true.)


	2. (strawberries and cigarettes always taste like) blue eyes, black jeans

they become fast friends, joining each other almost everywhere. ernst takes hanshen to the library, to his favorite places in the woods, to the neighborhood community garden. hanschen takes ernst to parties, to the roof of his family’s apartment, to protests.

he takes him to the forests just out of town- ernst’s idea, but hanschen’s car, hanschen’s money buying them strawberries from a grocery store a few blocks from ernst’s house, hanschen’s fingers reaching for a cigarette.

they sit at the base of a jagged rock-cliff and hanschen smokes. ernst eats strawberries from the plastic container, throwing the stems into the woods. They taste like springtime, a far cry from the slowly dying foliage in the woods. hanschen picks at lichen and exhales smoke. ernst giggles and swats it away.

hanschen smoking doesn’t both ernst as much as he thought it would. he doesn’t like it, he wishes his friend would find healthier ways to rebel against his dad, but hanschen isn’t a jerk about it, and the smell is something ernst got used to after a while.

 _“is lichen a moss?”_ hanschen asks,  and picks at a growth of the stuff on the rock.

ernst shrugs and eats another strawberry. _“i’ll look it up?”_

 _“there’s no service._ ” hanschen stretches and throws a black-jean-clad leg over ernst’s. _“whatcha up to tomorrow?”_

 _“i have service.”_ ernst smirks. _“or, church. it’s sunday.”_

hanschen purses his lips and looks up at the sky, as he’s apt to do at the mention of religion.

ernst looks at the sky too.

 _“okay, cool,”_ hanschen signs. _“how long does that go until? georg’s having a thing at his house and it’s lame if i go alone.”_

_“i’ll have to ask my mom.”_

_“why bother?”_

_because some of us have parents that actually care,_ ernst is about to say, because that’s the truest answer, but he realizes that that’s cruel just in time. he shrugs instead. _“i don’t want to be grounded.”_

hanschen’s locked his keys inside his car and doesn’t seem to care.

 _“i can call a tow truck?”_ ernst offers, staring at the keys on the front seat. he couldn't really call a tow truck, phone calls don't work so well when he's, y'know,  _profoundly deaf,_ but he's prepared to dial for hanschen.

 _“why bother?”_ hanschen asks. _“call a cab instead. my dad can deal with this.”_

 

they’re mostly silent on the way home. they do look up if lichen is a moss- it’s not, it’s a fungus, and hanschen grins at ernst.

 _“you’re so smart,”_ he signs.

ernst blushes. _“i just… googled it.”_

their hands find each other effortlessly and ernst smiles out the window.


	3. long nights, daydreams (headlights on me)

ernst’s mother said he couldn’t go to georg’s, but ernst sneaks out the window. hanschen is waiting for him, leaning against the street sign with an unlit cigarette. he’s wearing a ratty band t-shirt and his sisters skirt. he looks hot, ernst thinks.

ernst is still just wearing boots and jeans, like every day.

 _“ready to go, baby?_ ” hanschen asks, and ernst’s glad he can’t see him blush.

 _“yeah, love,”_ ernst replies, tripping a bit over the pet name. if hanschen can say them, so can he.

they drive to georg’s house. it’s a few miles away, but in an identical part of the suburbs to ernst’s house. hanschen’s father did, indeed, deal with the car, hanschen tells him on the way there. he was pissed that hanschen had just left it at the forest, but, hanschen says, he’s usually pissed. ernst would normally be worried about hanschen signing while driving, but the streets are empty and straight, and he doesn't want to fight.

hanschen parks a few houses down from georg’s, because there’s a line of cars closer to it. ernst starts to get out of the car but hanschen stops him.

 _“let me do your eyes first.”_ he signs, his eyes gleaming in the light from passing cars.

 _“um,”_ ernst says, then signs. _“what.”_

hanschen reaches over him and rummages through his glove compartment, retrieving an eye pencil. _“okay?”_ he asks, one-handedly.

ernst looks at hanschen, then at the eyeliner. _“yeah, okay.”_

hanschen climbs over the arm rests and straddles ernst in the passenger seat. ernst flicks on his phone’s flashlight, shining up at the pair. hanschen smirks at him

_“smart.”_

ernst does his best not to blink as hanschen sketches at his eyes, then blinks a lot once he’s done. hanschen leans back against the console.

 _“you look good,”_ he signs finally.

 _“so do you,”_ ernst signs back, and rests his hands on hanschen’s hips. 

 

they don’t stay at the party long- georg is nowhere to be found, and ernst doesn’t know anyone else at the party except otto, who seems to be wherever georg is. which is not there. hanschen has a sip of beer and lights his cigarette before proclaiming the party crappy and asking ernst if he’s okay with leaving.

they drive out to a streak of highway- ernst thinks it’s the same one they’d taken the day before to get to the woods, just further out.

hanschen pulls over and flicks his cigarette out the window. _“let’s get out here.”_

ernst frowns at him, but nods. _“sure, let’s.”_

they climb out and hanschen pulls himself onto the cars low roof. ernst follows suit. the aluminum the car is made of bends slightly under their weight, but hanschen doesn’t care so ernst doesn’t either. ernst leans back on his elbows and looks up at the constellations. hanschen cranes his neck to look at them.

 _“they’re beautiful,”_ ernst signs. he's not even sure if hanschen can see his hands.

 _“you’re beautiful,”_ hanschen signs, without looking away from the stars.

ernst laughs, startled. _“no you,”_ he signs automatically.

hanschen laughs and ernst sits up and suddenly they’re kissing. it’s wonderful. hanschen tastes like cigarettes and it’s just a bit disgusting but everything else about it wonderful, so ernst barely notices.

and it’s dark and their headlights are the only things out here, the only things but the stars and hanschen and ernst, and haschen’s cigarette, its glow slowly dying.

 

**Author's Note:**

> here it is!! the third thing ive written today please tell me to stop
> 
> i hope you like it, tho! comments and kudos are the best thing aside from revolution and kisses from someone you love and i appreciate them like nothing else. find me on tumblr @the-stars-say-gay


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